The second release candidate for the next big release – WordPress 5.9 Release Candidate 2 is now available for testing.
A release candidate means that the core team is almost done with WordPress 5.9. However, with the millions of users and thousands of themes and plugins, there sure is a possibility that something might have been missed. Therefore, the core team wants users to test the release candidate in order to make the 5.9 update complete and enhanced.
To test WordPress 5.9, you can use the WordPress Bets Tester plugin (choose the “bleeding edge nightlies” and Beta/RC Only” options) or you can also directly download WordPress 5.9 Release Candidate 2 here (zip).
You can also use WP- CLI to test WordPress 5.9 using the following commands:
Command One:
wp core update --version=5.9-RC2
Command Two:
wp core update --version=5.9-RC2 --force
The big release, WordPress 5.9 has been scheduled to be released on 25th January 2022. Since the major release date is nearing, the core development team is requesting all the WordPress users to test the platform or any bugs and notify the authors, if any occur.
WordPress 5.9 Release Candidate 2 includes 6 bug fixes since the first RC. Moreover, 13 bug fixes were backported from Gutenberg.
You can check out the first Release Candidate or WordPress 5.9 Field Guide to know what to expect in the next big release.
If you find any bug or issue, you can report them to the Alpha/Beta support forum. This will help the development team to ship WordPress 5.9. If any known issues come up, you’ll be able to find them here.
Developers can test their plugins and themes against 5.9. They can update the Tested up to the version in the readme to 5.9. If you find compatibility issues, please be sure to post to the support forums so the team can figure those out before the final release of WordPress 5.9.